07-08-2002, 09:37 AM
Below, as an aside, I mentioned the film Gorky Park, which was written by Dennis Potter. Potter also wrote the screenplays for other films, but in particular, three works I can watch over and over. The first is the almost unknown Dreamchild, which is an account of Alice Liddell, Lewis Carroll's model for Alice in Wonderland. The film is particularly interesting and arresting in the opening, in which the characters from the novel, figured as puppets by Jim Henson, are reimagined in a surreal, grotesque setting in surreal, grotesque form. Although the remainder of the film diminishes after the opening, the movie is worth renting for these first few minutes alone.
Based on his earlier BBC version, Pennies from Heaven is the story a Depression Era sheet music salesman who believes that the world should conform to a vision of the world expressed in Hollywood musicals. From what I've read about the film, the BBC version is even better, but I've never been able to see the original. Still, the movie, starring Steve Martin, is remarkable. The set pieces, modelled after Edward Hopper paintings, evoke the emptiness of the real world, which contrasts with the imagined world of the movies in the film. Two dance numbers, most notably, Christopher Walken's, done to Cole Porter's "Let's Misbehave, and Vernal Bagneris's, which is set to "Pennies from Heaven," soar. The film also contains one of my favorite lines of dialogue anywhere. Steve Martin's character happens along a blind girl, who, at first, he thinks can see. When he realizes she can't, he asks, "You can't see, can you?" She replies, "No. Not really." It's hard for me to convey how good the tag "Not really" is, but it's damn good.
Finally, if you can find it a local video store, The Singing Detective, aired on PBS, might be the best thing ever done on television. Period. I think I'll watch it again this week.
John
Based on his earlier BBC version, Pennies from Heaven is the story a Depression Era sheet music salesman who believes that the world should conform to a vision of the world expressed in Hollywood musicals. From what I've read about the film, the BBC version is even better, but I've never been able to see the original. Still, the movie, starring Steve Martin, is remarkable. The set pieces, modelled after Edward Hopper paintings, evoke the emptiness of the real world, which contrasts with the imagined world of the movies in the film. Two dance numbers, most notably, Christopher Walken's, done to Cole Porter's "Let's Misbehave, and Vernal Bagneris's, which is set to "Pennies from Heaven," soar. The film also contains one of my favorite lines of dialogue anywhere. Steve Martin's character happens along a blind girl, who, at first, he thinks can see. When he realizes she can't, he asks, "You can't see, can you?" She replies, "No. Not really." It's hard for me to convey how good the tag "Not really" is, but it's damn good.
Finally, if you can find it a local video store, The Singing Detective, aired on PBS, might be the best thing ever done on television. Period. I think I'll watch it again this week.
John